Symbolism of the Necklace

Throughout life, hardships and misfortunes can lead to one’s self – improvement. Guy de Maupassant’s story “The Necklace” presents many symbols which illustrate the works major idea of greed. The protagonist, Mathilde Loisel is the wife of an insignificant clerk, who is unhappy with her life because of her social economic status. She dreams of wealth and is increasingly frustrated because of her desire to always want more. The most important symbol within the story is the necklace, which foremost is a representation of greed and materialism. The necklace is composed of fake diamonds, which epitomize the artificiality of Mathilde’s personality. Furthermore, considering the setting of the story, the attic flat, where Mrs. Loisel lives with her husband, is another play on the protagonists’ personality because it displays the true coarseness of her character. Finally, the shawl is another important symbol which exemplifies poverty and necessity in Mathilde’s life. The relevancy of greed is a significant theme, which is portrayed by the use of many symbols. The necklace, including the fake diamonds, the attic flat and Mathilde’s shawl collectively work together to display the idea of how it only takes a little thing to destroy you.

With an invitation to a fancy, high – class dinner at the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Loisel’s downfall begins. At the beginning of the story, the reader quickly learns of Mathilde’s selfish personality and her yearning for luxuries and items that are unattainable for her at the time. When she declares that she does not have a dress for the occasion her husband volunteers to pay for a new one, despite the fact that it will cost him his next summer’s vacation. However, even with the new gown, Mathilde seems sad, uneasy and anxious. To her husband she complains, “It’s awful, but I don’t have any jewels to wear, not a single gem, nothing to dress up my outfit. I’ll look like a beggar. I’d...

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...The Necklace
About the Author
Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850, to an affluent family at the Chateau de Miromesnil, in France. As a child, Guy adored his mother and loathed his absent father. His mother was very literary and passed on her love of books to her son, Guy, and his brother, Herve. Much of Guy’s childhood was spent in the countryside playing sports or simply spending time outdoors.
Point of View
Third-Person Omniscient
The story's focus is certainly on Mathilde, but the narrator does not speak from her point of view. Instead, he talks about Mathilde as if he were from the outside looking in. When he brings her up at the beginning, she's just "one of those girls" (1). It sounds like he's seen a lot more of them than just this one. That's omniscient, all right. Mathilde's also not the only character whose thoughts he can see into; he's able to speak into her husband's thoughts just as easily, when he wants to.
Overview
Mathilde Loisel is “pretty and charming” but feels she has been born into a family of unfavorable economic status. She was married off to a lowly clerk in the Ministry of Education, who can afford to provide her only with a modest though not uncomfortable lifestyle. Mathilde feels the burden of her poverty intensely. She regrets her lot in life and spends endless hours imagining a more extravagant existence. While her husband expresses his pleasure at the small, modest supper she has...

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"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant portrays the female character in a number of different ways. This is a short story about a woman, and because of her vanity, ruins her life at the end. The author gets this idea across by using a variety of symbols and language techniques.
In the story "The Necklace," the author's aim appears to be showing us that greed and jealousy will eventually lead to destruction. In this story, the protagonist is Mathilde Loisel, who is a woman who always daydreams of a life she knows she would never have. Because of this, she is never satisfied with what she already has, forever reminding herself that she was born into the wrong life and that fate had made a mistake. Even though her life is miserable, the narrator's unsympathetic feelings towards Mathilde are made evident when he states:
" Who have had the ill-fortune to be born into a wage earning family she led herself drift into marriage with a junior clerk."
It shows how she consider herself ranking even higher that the common people. Mathilde also has a servant to do her chores, which would, at that time, to be considered by many women to have a spoiled life.
The main theme within the tale is the necklace. By using it as a symbol, Maupassant is able to show us the vanity of Mathilde in a more visible way. She was too obsessed in her non-existent...

...see how this byword applies to Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace." Its protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, longing for a lavish lifestyle rather than her middle class way of life, falls under the spell of an priceless diamond. Dealing with her fate, some of Mathilde's strong character traits soon become apparent. Examining these attributes, we discover that Mathilde Loisel definitely has a negative personality.
The first of many character traits of Mathilde Loisel that Maupassant makes evident in the "The Necklace" is greed. She longs for a better life, one in which all her wildest dreams are transformed into reality. This rapacity causes her to drift away from her lifestyle and come back wanting more than she has or can afford. The voraciousness that consumes her whole way of life is truly a sign of inner weakness, a weakness she has for wealth and beauty. She would get lost in her own little fantasy world where everything was just pristine and perfect, with things she knew she would never be able to afford. She would daydream of "silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, lit by tall bronze candelabra, and of the two great footmen in knee breeches " (452,Maupassant, "The Necklace"). Moreover, greed takes over Mathilde as she opts for a new dress, telling her husband, "I don't know exactly, but I think I could manage it with four hundred francs." (453, Maupassant, "The Necklace")....

...The Necklace
By Guy De Maupassant
Critical Analysis
In The Necklace, by Guy De Maupassant uses materialism, conflict and character to show how some people are never satisfied with what they have and always wanting more no matter at what cost. The story focuses on two main characters, Mathilde a very materialistic person and her husband, a clerk who is not wealthy by any means but makes enough money to get by. Mathilde is a very selfish person in the story and abuses the love that her husband has for her to try to satisfy her selfish needs. Her husband is a simple clerk who enjoys the simpler things in life.
Mathilde believes she was born in to the wrong class. Her middle class marriage was not up to her standards. Her wardrobe was too simple in her opinion and this was not satisfactory in her eyes. Mathilde did not posses any good jewelry unlike her old school friend Madame Forester. One night her husband brought home an invitation for a dinner at The Ministry of Public. Instead of being exited and looking forward with spending an evening with her husband and in a high society environment in which she believes she belongs. Her only concern is her appearance and what other people might think about her. This is reflected by the author where Loisel states, “What’s the matter? What’s the matter?” The only response from Mathilde is, “Nothing. Only I have no dress and there for I can’t go to the ball. Give your card to some...

...The Irony of “The Necklace”
“The Necklace” has a few different examples of irony in it. Of course it is ironic how the necklace ended up being fake, but it is also ironic that Mme. Forestier lied about the necklace being real. Many people think the theme to be to not tells lies and to just be honest, and then this would not have happened to Mathilde, but Mathilde was not the only one who lied. There is great irony in the fact that the necklace ended up being fake, and also that both women lied about the necklace to each other.
Mathilde is a very self-conscious woman because of the fact that her and her husband do not have a lot of money. She is very ungrateful for what she does have and for what her husband does for her. She should have been excited and grateful that she even got invited to the ball, but instead she just told her husband to “give [the] card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than [she is]” (Maupassant). Her husband even gave her the money he was planning on using to “buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting next summer” (Maupassant) to Mathilde for a new dress for the ball, and of course she is not pleased. She then complains that it “annoys [her] not to have a single jewel” (Maupassant) and because of this she should not even go. Mathilde is so determined to be something she is not, which is rich, that she ends up becoming poor. She not only should...

...Analyzing Guy de Maupassant’s Story
Guy de Maupassant’s full name is Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant. He is a short story writer, novelist, journalist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. One of his short stories is The Necklace. In any literary work it is necessary to have characters, whether it is major or minor, round or flat. Character development gives the reader insight of what they are reading. Looking at Guy de Maupassant’s piece The Necklace, characters are well portrayed by Guy de Maupassant thus giving the reader the opportunity to determine if they are round or flat characters.
Though she is ‘‘pretty and charming,’’ she and her husband, a clerk in the Ministry of Education, are not well off financially. She has always dreamed of a life of leisure, with attentive servants and a large home. However her lifestyle is decidedly more modest. Ashamed of her social standing, she no longer visits Madame Forestier, an old school friend who has become rich. Mrs. Forestier lend Mathilde the necklace for the Ministry of Education. Mrs. Loisel lost the necklace at the end of the party. After that she and her husband Mr. Loisel had to buy a necklace and work for ten years to finish paying the debt.
The Necklace begins with a description of Mathilde Loisel. Mathilde Loisel is a round character whose ego is mainly revealed in her bitterness of her surroundings. Mathilde gradually...

...of all money. During this time frame, there was a fine line of whom can associate with who because if an important person were to be spotted with a lower class that person’s status could be downgraded and that person could lose everything; this portrays how society can control people’s lives, how they live them, and who they share it with. Although there are a multitude of ideas presented in Guy De Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace” the most significant idea is that Madame Loisel is victimized and her life ruined because of the nineteenth century France society.
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Madame Loisel is a victim of society and has been from the start every since she was born into a family of artisans. Throughout her life she grew to love jewels and high-quality clothes, items, and a wealthy lifestyle. For instance, in the story it states ” she had no clothes, no jewels, nothing. And these were the only things she loved; she felt that she was made for them” (De Maupassant 1). This quote from the short story “The Necklace” helps show that the effects of society has corrupted her personal view on materialistic possessions, which means she feels she is of lesser value of a human without those items. Madam Loisel’s life was one full of sorrow and desire for a grouping of reasons. Madame Loisel’s ideology has put a negative tone over her life that slowly drained her happiness away like the waning love between two...

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Everyone can think of someone they know that isn’t very grateful for what they have, and always wants better. Guy de Maupassant was primarily known for his novels and short stories about “characters as unhappy victims of their greed, desire, or vanity but presents even the most sordid details of their lives without sermonizing” (Colombia 1). This is the base for his short story “The Necklace” which is about a woman who is unhappy with her life and marriage, and the consequences of her greed. Guy de Maupassant uses stereotypes and great detail to tell the story of her greed, misfortune and misunderstanding.
“She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks” (Maupassant 38). Maupassant makes clear in the very first sentence of his story “The Necklace” that his main character, Madame Liosel, most likely feels as if though the path of her life was a mistake by destiny. He points out that she was raised in a family of clerks, and then later says that she also married a clerk. She always dreamed about wearing jewels, beautiful gowns, being surrounded by silver tapestries and rich company. Maupassant tells us she has a house servant, “The sight of the little Breton peasant who did her humble housework aroused in her regrets…” (38) which shows that she isn’t entirely poor and is most likely middle class. The poor...